Are football codes gambling with their future?

Concerns are being raised over the influence of gambling on Australia's football codes and whether that could open the door to criminal gangs and match fixing.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: Last month it was doping that was blamed for the so-called blackest day in Australian sport.

Now a new lineup of sporting veterans is warning that a gambling culture is taking over Australia's football codes and it's leaving them ripe for exploitation by criminals and match-fixers.

Just last week, the top player in the National Rugby League stood aside to undergo rehabilitation for an alcohol and gambling addiction. And tomorrow, three former NRL identities will face court on charges related to match-fixing.

The problem is also plaguing the AFL, with one former star warning that gambling companies are now dictating to Aussie Rules.

Conor Duffy reports.

CONOR DUFFY, REPORTER: As a teenage star, Owen Craigie was on top of the world when Newcastle Knights claimed their first premiership in 1997.

16 years later, he's warning today's teenagers not to follow in his footsteps.

OWEN CRAIGIE, FORMER NRL PLAYER: My story, boys, that I had won a premiership and I played a couple of years of rugby league, but I developed a - I ended up becoming an addict. Throughout my career I lost two houses that I owned.

CONOR DUFFY: Now a Mission Australia gambling counsellor, he's here to share his experiences at Swansea High School, south of Newcastle.

OWEN CRAIGIE: But all that hard work, boys, went like that (clicks fingers) because of my gambling addiction.

CONOR DUFFY: As a young star fresh from the bush, Owen Craigie was hailed as one of the most gifted players to take the field. But a rampant gambling addiction meant he never fulfilled his potential in 10 years in the NRL and lost much of what he did achieve before retiring in 2005.

OWEN CRAIGIE: When you add everything up, it was in the vicinity of $1.5 million, you know? So that means leaving Tingha as a 14-year-old to come down and make sacrifices, growing up with my younger brothers and sisters, I was the eldest of seven kids, and doing all the preseason training was just a waste of time. Yeah, I won a premiership, but you know what?, I lost my house, I lost everything, I even lost my own life to addiction.

CONOR DUFFY: Last week rugby league's best player, Ben Barba, had to step down as the face of the game to seek treatment for gambling and drinking.

The NRL wished Barba all the best for his recovery, from its season launch at gambling mecca, Star City Casino. The irony of that connection wasn't lost on former NRL player Ashley Gordon, who now counsels gambling addicts.

ASHLEY GORDON, GAMBLING COUNSELLOR: I don't think it helps. I think on one hand we're taking from betting organisations such as your TAB or your Sportsbet, Centrebet, Crown or even Star City, all these gambling agencies or even links to gambling, they're big in our game. They're being advertised, they're being promoted at halftime and during play, you know, who's paying what, who's paying now. And obviously it's gonna play a role, not just in the community and in their increasing to gamble, but also players. They feel they've gotta promote the product and in many ways, you know, it's a normal thing to do, particularly when you're promoting it all the time.

CONOR DUFFY: The problem isn't unique to rugby league. Former Melbourne Demons AFL star David Schwarz retired in 2002 with most of his income lost to gambling.

DAVID SCHWARZ, FORMER AFL PLAYER: Oh, millions. Millions and millions. I tried to work it out; our losses we try to block out and put away. So, for me, I don't know. Best guess, $4 to $5 million.

CONOR DUFFY: Now the host of a daily sports radio show, he rails against the explosion in betting options and advertising over the last decade as betting exchange Betfair and corporate bookmakers have moved in on the codes.

DAVID SCHWARZ: I'm not gonna sit here and say that the punt is evil, but it doesn't help when you have betting agencies just throwing millions and millions of dollars at that vulnerable punter or that punter that may not even be a punter to try and lure them in.

CONOR DUFFY: Bookie Tom Waterhouse recently signed a reported $50 million deal with the NRL to lure punters during games in 2013. Advertisements like this are hard to miss and odds are now spruiked right throughout match broadcasts.

DAVID SCHWARZ: The last thing I want is my child or any children to be judging who the best side is because they're $1.40 favourite rather than because they have better players. And I think it's that ingrained now in the youth and the betting agencies have done such a wonderful job at doing that. And I know my son does it. He knows that Collingwood are favourites on a Friday night because they're $1.63. Now that we're at that stage, it has gone too far. It is dictating to us rather than the sport dictating to them.

CHRIS DOWNY, AUSTRALIAN WAGERING COUNCIL: It's a legal product, it's highly regulated and just like any other legal product, our industry has the right to advertise.

CONOR DUFFY: How fair is it that taxpayers and community organisations are having to pick up the tab for the problem gamblers that your members profit off?

CHRIS DOWNY: We have responsible gambling practices in place just like every other gambling organisation in this country has. I mean, we have responsible gambling practices in place. We know, as I've said, more about our customers than a land-based operator would know. We know when someone might be betting too much or might need some help and we have ...

CONOR DUFFY: So how many people have you stopped from betting or have your clients stopped from betting?

CHRIS DOWNY: Oh, that's a question that I'm not privy to, to be honest.

CONOR DUFFY: The proliferation of gambling options leaves the footy codes at greater risk of infiltration by organised crime, a problem highlighted by last month's Australian Crime Commission report. It also warned of potential match fixing.

In 2010, fears of match fixing were realised in a now infamous NRL game between the Cowboys and Bulldogs in Townsville. There was drama from the kickoff when Bulldogs forward Ryan Tandy intentionally dropped the ball. He then gave away a cheap penalty in front of the goalposts.

Punters in several states had allegedly flooded money on the exotic betting option of the Cowboys scoring first points from a penalty. Ryan Tandy became the only person convicted for match fixing in Australia.

Tomorrow charges related to that game are back before the courts with two former players and the son of a player agent listed to appear in a Sydney court.

JEFF BOND, SPORTS PSYCHOLOGIST: I think the connections with gambling must somehow influence the opportunities for untoward, inappropriate involvement by some of the networks, the criminal networks around the country. I think any time that there's a possibility of a gambling, you would have to question the opportunities for match fixing, you'd have to question the opportunities for hooking, for want of a better term, celebrity players into those networks.

CONOR DUFFY: Sports psychologist Jeff Bond worked at the Australian Institute of Sport and the Richmond Footy Club. He was so concerned about players being corrupted that he hired a convicted criminal to warn them of the risks.

JEFF BOND: He said that one of the activities that they do is they try to find out what the players' needs are and if it was to look after a gambling debt, then obviously the network would do that. If it was women that they were interested in, then the network would provide them with attractive women. If it happened to be a fast car, they could provide them with a fast car. If it was drugs they were after, illicit drugs, then obviously they could supply that as well. So, I thought that was pretty eye-opening for the players.

CONOR DUFFY: With the explosion in betting offering new match fixing opportunities, criminals have new ways to exploit players. David Schwarz believes criminal gangs are the biggest threat to the game.

DAVID SCHWARZ: It's a serious issue and organised crime don't care about the individual, they care about their pockets. And until sports people understand that, they'll be get at and they'll be got. And players have to be so vigilant and clubs have to be so vigilant not to let these people into their clubs and let them filter their way through and spread like a cancer because it'll bring the club undone.